Tue December 13, 2011

Update: Progress, But No Success On Search For 'God Particle'

The presentation continues in Switzerland, where scientists are briefing their peers on the search for the Higgs boson — or so-called God particle — that gives matter mass. The bottomline: They've made progress, "but not enough to make any conclusive statement on the existence or non-existence of the elusive Higgs."

Or, as the BBC puts it, "the most coveted prize in particle physics — the Higgs boson — may have been glimpsed, say researchers reporting at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva. ... But the LHC does not yet have enough data to claim a discovery."

We'll watch for the headline news. But our friends at the 13.7 blog will be in better position to explain what it all does or doesn't mean, and NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce will have more about the news later today on All Things Considered.